62 REMINISCENCES OF 



A feature characteristic of this country, and one 

 that deserves notice, is the family burying-grounds. 

 After the erection of the St. Stephen's Church, the 

 ground about it was the common cemetery, but 

 many persons to this day continue to bury their 

 dead in the old homestead, and chose to lie in 

 death within the precincts of their ancestors' do- 

 main, even though perhaps they may have been 

 strangers to it in life. The graveyard was near the 

 house, usually behind the garden. As a precaution 

 against the depredation of wolves, a large hole was 

 dug to the depth of about five feet ; a grave was 

 then dug at the bottom of this hole, large enough to 

 hold the coffin. After the coffin was deposited in 

 this receptacle, it was covered with boards, and the 

 whole then filled up. This practice continues to 

 this day. I can hardly enumerate the several grave- 

 yards. Those which have been latest used are : that 

 at Belle Isle, for the Marions and their descendants ; 

 at Mahams, for the descendants of Col. Maham ; 

 at the Old Field, for the family of Philip Porcher ; 

 at Gravel Hill, for the Palmers ; at Hanover in St. 

 John's, for the descendants of the St. Juliens ; and 

 those at Pooshee and Somerton, for the families of 

 the Ravenels and Mazycks. It is not unlikely that 

 there are graves on almost every old homestead in 

 the country. 



Black Oak is the central point in a region inter- 

 esting for various incidents connected with the revo- 



